Chair tray with furniture arm engaging bracket



Aug. 4, 1953 'A. l. HUDZIAK ETAL 2,547,7 6

CHAIR TRAY WITH FURNITURE ARM ENGAGING BRACKET Filed Deg; 8, 1948 INVENTORS, 20 fi/e/fa I. 62/42/01? ITTORNEY Patented Aug. 4, 1953 CHAIR TRAY WITH FURNITURE ARM ENGAGING BRACKET Alberta I. Hudziak and Pauline H. Kyker, Seattle, Wash.

Application December 8, 1948, Serial No. 64,144

' 1 Claim.. (01. 248-226) This invention relates to a tray of a type known as a chair care tray and which is adapted to be supported on the arm rest of a piece of upholstered furniture, such as a chair or davenport, as a convenience to the user and as a means of protecting the furniture from being damaged.

An object of this invention is to provide a tray having two downwardly extending spaced apart adjustable resilient bracket members of inverted L shape which are adapted to fit over the arm rest of a piece of upholstered furniture to stabilize and support the tray on the furniture arm rest.

Anotherobject is to provide a tray having a groove of dove tail shape, cross sectionally considered, extending crosswise of the bottom thereof and having two opposed bracket members of substantially inverted L shape and of flat resilient material slidably and telescopically disposed in said dove tail groove whereby said bracket members can be caused to engage snugly with opposite sides of an upholstered furniture arm rest to support the tray on the arm rest, the brackets being resilient and the outward pressure of the arm rest against the lower end portionsof said brackets being applied to the slidingly mounted parts of the brackets in such a manner as to cause them to frictionally bind in the dovetail shaped slot in the tray thereby preventing the brackets from slipping and loosening their grip on the arm rest.

Another object is to provide a chair tray having downwardly extending adjustably connected bracket members of substantially inverted L shape which are quickly and easily detachable from the tray to provide compactness in storage and shipment and to make it possible to use the tray without the bracket members as an ordinary serving tray.

Other objects are to provide a tray for use on the arm rest of a piece of upholstered furniture which is simple in construction, neat and attractive in appearance, not expensive to manufacture and which is a great convenience to the users and is highly eflicient in protecting the furniture on which it is used against accidental damage due to the spilling of such articles as foods, drinks and the contents of ash trays on said furniture.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tray provided with bracket means constructed in accordance with this invention, a portion of the bracket means being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of said tray taken substantially on broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and with a portion of the bracket means broken away.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view substantially on broken line being shown in elevation.

Fig. 4 is a detached exploded perspective view, with parts broken away showing the relatively telescopic parts of two bracket members of substantially inverted L shape as they may appear when they are separated from each other.

Fig. 5 is a detached top plan view of the two bracket members shown in Fig. 4, showing these bracket members telescoped together.

Like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings l0 indicates a tray, which may be varied in size, shape and color and which may be made of molded plastic or metal or various other materials. The tray ID has a thickened portion or rib II which extends crosswise of the bottom portion of said tray substantially midway between the two ends of the tray. A groove I2 of dove tail shape, cross sectionally considered, extends crosswise of the tray in the thickened portion Ii thereof. The sides of the grove l2 are undercut so that the mouth of the groove is narrower than the base portion or bottom of said groove.

Two clamping brackets of flat resilient material and of approximately inverted L shape are designated generally by the numerals l3 and I4 and are provided for supporting the tray l 0 on an arm rest of a piece of upholstered furniture. The upper or normally horizontal part I5 of the clamping bracket [3 is straight and flat and has inclined edge portions l6 and is of the proper size and shape to slidably and telescopically and snugly fit within the dove tail shaped groove l2. Also this flat upper portion [5 of the bracket l3 has a medially disposed slot ll, of dove tail shape cross sectionally considered, extending from the end of said part 15 longitudinally of the part [5 toward the bend portion of the bracket l3.

The normally horizontal upper part of the clamping bracket l4 comprises a wide portion l8 and a narrower tongue portion l9 both of dove tail cross sectional shape. The wide portion [8 is adapted to fit snugly and telescopically within the dove tail shaped groove l2 in the tray l0 and the tongue I9 is adapted to fit slidably and of said tray taken 3-3 of Fig. 2, parts moved toward and away from each other between.

positions as indicated by full lines and dot and dash lines in Fig. 3 by exerting a force substantially in line with the telescopic parts of these bracket members. A binding effect will be produced in the relatively telescopic parts, due to the lever action of the parts 20, if inward or' outward force is exerted on these parts 20 toward their outer ends. This binding effect is desirable 4 holstered furniture arm rest comprising a supporting member; a groove in the supporting member, said groove being of dove tail shaped cross section; a substantially L shaped bracket member of resilient material having a supporting member engaging part which is provided with beveled edges slidably and telescopically received in said dove tail shaped groove, the bevel edged part of said bracket member having a longitudinally disposed slot of dove tail shape cross section extending from the end thereof toward the bend portion of the bracket member; and anothersubstantially L shaped bracket member of resilient material having a supporting member engaging part which is provided with beveled edges slidably and telescopically received within sai'd dove tail shaped groove in said supporting because it tends to prevent slippage of the rela' tively telescopic parts when the parts are pressed firmly against the arm rest of a piece of upholstered furniture.

The bracket members 13 and M can easily and quickly be completely detached from the tray H) for compactness in storage or shipment or to allow the tray to be used without the brackets. Preferably portions ll, of a thickness equal to the thickness of the rib H, are provided on the bottom of the tray near each end thereof so that the tray will rest flatly and evenly on the arm rest of a piece of furniture or on a flat surface when the tray is used without the brackets 13 and 14.

The normally upright parts '20 of the bracket members I3 and is preferably converge or are inclined toward each other, see Fig. 3, and have their lower end portions reversely bent outwardly. The convergence of these two parts 20 makes them fit better and hold better on an upholstered furniture arm rest of ordinary shape. The outward curvature of the lower end portions of these bracket parts 20 makes them easier to apply to upholstered arm rests.

The bracket members hold. the tray securely in place on an upholstered arm rest and keep the tray in a horizontal position. This is a great. convenience to the user and it also helps to prevent damage to the furniture.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly disclose a preferred form of this invention but it will be understood that changes in this device can be made within the scope and spirit of the following claim.

We claim:

A device for use in combination. with an upmember and further having a tongue of dove tail shaped cross section sl-idably and telescopically received within the longitudinal slot in the bevel edged part of said first mentioned bracket member, said two L shaped bracket members having opposed clamping arms extending approximately at right angles from theirsupporting member engaging parts; whereby outward pressure against said opposed clamping arms provides frictional binding-of the relatively telescopic parts of the brackets in the groove of the supporting member.

' ALBERTA I. I-IUDZIAK.

PAULINE H. KYKER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 773,792 Palmenberg Nov. 1, 1904 1,008,037 Johnson Nov. 7, 1911 1,532,688 Feuerstein Apr. 7, 1925 1,761,004 Blake June 3, 1930 1,312,270 Plaxco et al -1 June 30, 1931 1,869,444 Tobey Aug. 2, 1932 1,953,562 Lansing Apr. 3 1934 2,034,835 Rubino Mar. 24, 1936 2,083,299 Hunter June 8, 1937 2,099,433: Bloomfield Nov. 6, 1937 2,214,204 Pollard Sept. 10, 1940 2,223,680 Fischer et a1 Dec. 3, 1940 2,306,294 Brown Dec. 22, 1942 2,357,668 Laham Sept. 5, 1944 2,584,050 Robbins Jan. 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 321,141 Great Britain Oct. 31, 1929 

